Some critical remarks on the epistemology of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23756/sp.v8i1.493Keywords:
apparatus, instrument, measurement, imaging, experiment, fMRIAbstract
The article examines epistemological and ontological underpinnings of reasearch performed by means of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). It takes as its guiding line the important distinction between instruments and apparatuses drawn by Rom Harré. According to Harré, instruments such as barometers or thermometers do not cause the states they measure into existence. Apparatuses, in contradistinction, cause material states into existence to begin with, whereby theses states are subsequently processed (treated, measured, etc.) according to suitable methods (e.g. algorithms). Thus, when the objects of examination (human and animal brains, e.g.) are subjected to 2 or more Tesla in fMRI, a strength of magnetic field never occuring in earthly nature, technical means literally create the states to be examined (measured, graphically represented, etc.). Close examination of the functioning of MRI and fMRI indicates that brain states, e.g., are not simply read, or perceived (on screens) as degrees of temperature are read on scale. Hence, one does not see any mental funtion when looking at fMRI outputs, for the visible output has been semantically processed on the basis of invisible quantum mechanical processes that have undergone translations into digital data caused by the fMRI device itself.
Downloads
References
Davy, H. (1807): The Bacterian lecture: On some chemical agencies of electricity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 97, pp. 1-56.
Ebbesen, T. W., Lezec, H.J., Ghaemi, H. F., Thio, T. & Wolff, P. A. (1998): Extraordinary optical transmission through sub-wavelength hole arrays. Nature 391 (12 February), p. 667-669.
Hacking, I. (1983 ): Representing and Intervening: Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harré, R. (1998): Recovering the experiment. Philosophy 73 (n° 285), p. 353-377.
Harré, R. (2000): Defending science from all of its enemies and some of its friends. Dialectica 54 (n° 4), p. 265-281.
Harré, R. (2003): “The Materiality of instruments in a metaphysics for experiments”. In: Radder, H. (ed.): The Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation, Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, p. 19–39.
Harré, R. (2010): Equipment for experiment. Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science 4 (1), p. 30-38.
Hobson, J. A. & Leonard J. A. (2001): Out of Its Mind: Psychiatry in Crisis. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.
Logothetis, N. (2008): What we can do and what we cannot do with fMRI. Nature 453, p. 869–878.
Metzinger, T. (2004): Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity. Cambridge, MA; MIT Press.
Parry, A. & Matthews, P. M. (2002): Functional magnetic resonance imaging: A window into the brain”. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 27, p. 50-60 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/030801802225002908).
Sandrone, S., Bacigaluppi, M., Galloni, M. R., Cappa, S. F., Moro, A., Catani, M., Filippi, M., Monti, M. M., Perani, D. & Martino, G. (2014): Weighing brain activity with the balance: Angelo Mosso’s original manuscripts come to light. Brain. 137 (Pt 2), p. 621-633 (
doi: 10.1093/brain/awt091) (PubMed PMID: 23687118).
Zago, S., Ferrucci, R., Marceglia, S. & Priori, A. (2009): The Mosso method for recording brain pulsation: The forerunner of functional neuroimaging. Neuroimage 48(4), p. 652-656 (doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.05.062) (PubMed PMID: 19481609).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The journal is committed to real and immediate open access for academic work. All of the journal articles are free to access immediately from the date of publication. There are no charge for readers to download articles and reviews for their own scholarly use. Benefits of open access for authors, include:
- Free access for all users worldwide
- Increased visibility and readership
- Rapid publication
- No spatial constraints
- Authors can share their research papers on their personal web-pages (i.e. ResearchGate, etc.)
Copyright and Licensing Terms
SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY publishes open access articles under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License. The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) allows users to copy, distribute and transmit an article, adapt the article and make commercial use of the article. The CC BY license permits commercial and non-commercial re-use of an open-access article, as long as the author is properly attributed. Copyright on any research article published by SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY is retained by the author(s). Authors grant SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
For further information visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. The following logo will appear in any paper that will be published from the volume number 31/2016 onwards:
